A Second Storm
by ArcticIllustrator
Summary: The perfect child soldier, that is what he has requested and what was attempting to be built in order to help Konoha with the Third Shinobi War. Many experiments were performed on children that were abducted or created, however what if the Hashirama cells weren't the only ones attempting to be implemented? OC! Inconsistent Updates.


I'll be honest. I have not been able to write on my story Irony and Chrysanthemums due to having a massive writer's block that will not go away. Instead, I keep thinking of new ideas that has been driving me crazy, much to my irritation. I've been trying to push them away and focus on chapter 8 of I&C and well… not going so good. I keep having to delete it and rewrite only to delete. (So no I haven't abandoned the story).

Instead, I'm going to create and use this story in hopes of breaking my writer's block. If this doesn't work, I guess I'll have to give in and create my other stories as well…

I hope you guys enjoy it, no real plot has been made for this story and I will just write as I please for it.

A Second Storm

Prologue

Red eyes peered at the green glowing tube curiously, watching as a young male who floated in the green solution slumbered. A pale white hand moved to gently place on the glass, as the owner noted to herself just how warm the solution felt despite the cold of the laboratory around her.

The girl was sitting on her knees, close to the tube where the other child slept somewhat uneasily, staring curiously at him. Her white dress was covered in smudges, but her white hair still appeared clean despite the fact of her outwards dirty appearance.

"Hello… I came back, like I promised…" She whispered to the tube, keeping a bandaged arm close to her side and resting in her lap. "I was able to leave my room… He told me to stay, but I made a promise as you are my only friend…"

There were other children floating in solutions as well, fifty-nine others not counting the boy in front of her who would make sixty, but she ignored them as she did not feel the connection to them as she did with him. Besides, they were deformed, broken down in pieces in some cases while others had flowers or even small trees sprouting along their bodies. Their sleep was very uneasy, painful, while others seem to just not even be existing anymore.

The girl peered at the monitor beside the tube that contained her friend, noting how the machine that was measuring a heart rate was steady with a normal and constant beeps. She easily ignored the slower beeps, the faster beeps, and the beeps that became a slight whine before beeping again as she frowned at her friend.

"Today he stuck more needles in me… He said he was attempting to make me better, but I do not understand… It hurt, of course, but not as bad as before. Is that what he meant? Will it stop hurting the more that he sticks?" She questioned the tube, not expecting an answer like usual. However, just speaking to him was very comforting to her. Especially when she knows that he cannot tell a soul what she has just told him.

Unlike that silver haired kid who was always eager to rat her out and tell that man about her thoughts, her ideas, her dreams, and her wants.

She wasn't sure how long she was crouched there watching him carefully as she spoke nonsense about her days since she last saw him.

"Today, the food was good. At least, it was a little sweet I believe? It was not bad like usual… Even today it was like a soup, a grey mushy soup, but it tasted a lot better than the bars that I usually get." She mumbled, blinking at the boy who seemed at ease in his sleep for now.

She eyed the tubes extending from all parts of his body that were attached to the tank he was held at, ignoring his nakedness as she was used to seeing nudity, and was just watching him.

"You have not died like the others have…" She said, hope gleaming in her eyes, "I hope that you continue to live. I wish for you to get out of that tube so that we can play. I am allowed to play, but the other boy do not want to play with me. He gets mad at me, and sometimes hit me, just because I simply ask him to play. I have stopped asking him, but he still hits me. That is not good, as the man gets angry with him as well. However, the man says I am a failure, so he also said it is okay."

She stopped for a long while, her red eyes glazing over as she fell further into thought, her hand moving off of the tube finally after what could have been hours. The limb felt sore from having to stay up and her legs were numb and tingling from the cut of circulation and also cold from the sanitized marble below her. Both her hands, bandaged and unbandaged, clenched at her dress as she stared down into her lap.

"I wonder what it means for me to be a failure… I am not dead, I am not deformed like the others in the tube. I am even able to walk, move, and eat, while you cannot. I am a failure though and he said I will be replaced. I do not know what that means. Do you?" She questioned uselessly, not expecting an answer.

"Akane, what are you doing here?" An older male's voice hissed out, she looked up in shock. Her red eyes widen a bit before they dimmed. All emotion has disappeared from her voice as she stared up at the tall figure at the doorway who was easily stalking over to her direction.

He was graceful in his movement and efficient. Something about him felt very deadly at that moment, however she was not afraid as she did not even know what that emotion was. Instead, she looked at him as was instructed her entire life to do so as far as she could remember.

Golden eyes scanned the young child before him with a cold, calculating gesture. The green glow from the tube casted a sickly color on the child, making her seem quite dead and ill appearing. It turned her usually white hair a mint color and her eyes seemed to glow from the dark as well.

"I felt something, Orochimaru-sama." She mumbled, standing up and taking the pale hand that the man had offered to her as a reflex. "I had to come see him."

He stared at her and she stared back, easily meeting his snake-like eyes without any hesitancy as they both merely studied each other. Apparently he did not see what he was looking for, as he easily broke the contact to also stare at the tube that contained the male child.

"Ah, yes. He is quite a fine specimen, is he not?" He questioned as she stayed silent, knowing that he did not want an answer. "Only one out of sixty was able to make it, what a terrible failure rate. However, it was an improvement from the last batch. I am sure that if I study him more intensively, the success rate would increase."

She allowed him to lead her out of the laboratory, the light from the other tubes leading the way as she kept pace with him knowing that he would not slow down.

"Orochimaru-sama, what does it mean for me to be a failure?" She asked as he moved to close and lock the door.

He paused, staring at the child before giving a smirk that she has usually seen on his face when he has succeeded in something that is in his favor. "It means child, that you are not workable. You are better than the others that I have created, however you are not the ideal specimen that I am trying to produce. "

She took his hand again as they walked down the halls, knowing that he was going to place her back in her room. The room was just a small gray room with a bed that had white sheets and a white pillow that she sleeps on at night. There were papers there, as well as pencils for which she was given to draw with which is what she does do. There are numerous of pictures that she has created, scattered about on the floor with her most favorite ones stacked into a neat pile by the corner of the bedroom.

Her favorite ones are drawings she has made of herself, small and insignificant compare to the scenery around the drawn girl which includes tables filled with tubes, needles, and chemicals. She has drawn Orochimaru-sama, smirking, glaring, holding her hand, sticking her with those needles. She has even drawn Kabuto, holding his papers and sometimes striking her. One picture even had the three of them together, the girl in between a smirking Orochimaru and a smiling Kabuto, yet the picture of her had a frown on it.

"What does it mean for me to be replaced then?" She questioned once more as he opened her door and was waiting for her to re-enter the room. However, she paused by the doorway and casted her ruby eyes upwards to stare at him in the face.

"It means that I will create a new you and have them here in your steed." Orochimaru said, a hand firmly on her back as he urged her through the doorway and into her room where she immediately walked to the bed and got in it.

The door clicked close as she pulled the covers on her body and laid down, processing his words.

In the quiet, dark room, she pondered on that meaning before coming to a realization. Her eyes felt heavy, her body ready to slumber despite her racing mind.

"Does that mean I will die?" She questioned out loud to no one.

TBC


End file.
